the words that find us

This past Saturday, I received a surprising email from a former colleague. And by surprising, I mean that I haven’t heard from this woman in about 27 years—not since Jeff and I lived in Brooklyn, NY, which seems like eons ago.

She and I worked at the same company and, in fact, she took over the executive assistant position that I’d been placed in through a temp agency (she was much better suited to it than me, and I was much happier working for a different exec in the same company).

A fellow sister in Christ, she found me through that roundabout way Facebook has of if you’re friends with this person, you may also know…

Et voilà! A connection was made.

She shared with me little bits of where life had taken her since we last spoke—some anecdotal, others deeply personal—and woven throughout were glimpses of the ways the Lord had carried her through time spent in the desert as well as in lush valleys.

She wrote:

“The Holy Spirit has been nudging me to send you a note, primarily to tell you that I came across your beautiful blog, Always Annalea, and read your posts about faith, healing, and hope with a cup of coffee at my side and a heart that is on its own healing journey.”

How her words touched me!!!

I never truly know who’s finding my blog. Yes, whenever I have a new post, I mention it on Instagram and Facebook, sometimes send a text with a link to a friend; but unless someone leaves a comment or specifically reaches out, I don’t really know who’s reading it.

I can tell you that outside of the US, there are people reading from China, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark, Australia.

I KNOW!!!

I like checking the blog’s geography analytics (winky face).

But analytics can only tell me where someone is reading from. They can’t tell me what the words are doing once they get there.

I don’t always know how the words I write will touch the heart of another person. How what I’ve written may specifically resonate with a time they’ve gone through or are currently walking in. Mostly, Always Annalea is a place for me to process my past as I walk into my future, prayerfully doing the latter in a way that comes from perfect peace and complete wholeness.

Shalom Shalom.

The day after I read her email, I was talking with Daniel about what she’d written. I told him that, in a way, the comfort I felt from receiving it must have been similar to the way the early Christians felt upon receiving a letter from Paul—encouraged to stay the course, to trust God’s plan for their lives.

And what she couldn’t know is that her email also served as additional confirmation for something the Lord is leading me into.

(More on that later.)

Her email reminded me that God’s timing isn’t just entirely His own—it’s also entirely perfect and personal. For her. For me. For you.

For the two of us to work together 27 years ago. To then live completely separate, but not unconnected, lives. For her to spend part of that time in my own backyard without either of us knowing it. For her to read my words in a far-from-me place and feel led by Him to reach out. And perhaps, for you to read this today and feel encouraged, too.

“When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen.”
~ Isaiah 60:22

And then, as if her email hadn’t already been enough, she added this:

“PS — You have an inspirational post called ‘Jars of Clay.’ The Japanese have an art form called ‘Kintsugi,’ which is the traditional art of repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks with special lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The result is a stronger pot and one that is uniquely resplendent. I think God is working some Kintsugi in your life.”

Thank you, Karen.

What a wonder this was.